Ever wanted to be an alchemist? Just how does someone
understand those old alchemical drawings that describe the processes
that are used to create fabulous elixirs and powders? The very word
“alchemy” conjures up images of bearded old men in dark
laboratories turning lead into gold, or creating some elixir for extended
life. Can this apply to the modern magickal person ; can we create that
hidden gold or extend our lives?

Dennis William Hauck’s interest in alchemy began while he was
in graduate school at the University of Vienna. Now he is the editor
of the Alchemy Journal, an instructor in the Alchemy Home Study Program
and with Flamel College. Mister Hauck serves on the Board of Governors
of the International Alchemy Guild and regularly gives lectures worldwide
on alchemy.

Dennis William Hauck, a practicing alchemist and one of the leading
experts in the world on this ancient art and science, offers a basic
introduction to alchemy in this book that is not full of the hidden
meanings of some of those ancient texts on the subject, but has clear
explanations. As a matter of course he explains just what those odd
alchemical drawings from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries
mean and how to decipher their codes so that you as a modern alchemist
can follow their instructions. He also provides practical experiments,
and moving meditations.

Mister Hauck has written a book with fifteen chapters and two appendices
which follow a pattern of general history and overview, to the explanation
of the planetary archetypes used in alchemy, and finally to the operations
of alchemy where you can personally perform your own purification and
alchemical operations. In this latter part, Mister Hauck looks at both
Spiritual Alchemy, the method of meditation and study used to create
within yourself the Great Work on a mystical level, and he looks at
Practical Alchemy, the creation of elixirs and powders physically, as
well as how to blend these two versions of alchemy together. The book
is richly illustrated with many old alchemical drawings with explanations
that are clear throughout. The two appendices are very helpful. The
first one is a glossary of alchemical terms with clear definitions,
and the second one is a list of resources for the practioner from online
sites, to books that are recommended for reading. The chapters of the
book are:

What is Alchemy?

The Golden Thread That Runs Through Time

The Principals of Alchemy

The Kitchen Alchemist: Making Tinctures and Elixirs

Climbing the Ladder of the Planets

Saturn’s Child: The Base Metal Lead

Jupiter’s Rule: The Courtly Metal Tin

Mar’s Challenge: The Angry Metal Iron

Venus’s Embrace: The Loving Metal Copper

Mercury’s Magic: The Living Metal Quicksilver

The Moon’s Reflection: The Lunar Metal Silver

The Sun’s Brilliance: The Solar Metal Gold

The Operations of Alchemy

Personal Purification

Becoming an Alchemist

Appendix A: Glossary of Alchemy

Appendix B: Resources

Finally here is a book that helps break down some of the mystery of
alchemy so that anyone can better understand this ancient art and science,
which has been called the Royal Art of the Hermetic Tradition. Dennis
William Hauck has made a great contribution to the oft-neglected art
of alchemy with this book, and it should be included in any person’s
library that is interested in the Hermetic Arts, the Western Mystery
Traditions, and especially in Alchemy.